La Estancia

San Antonio de Areco (roughly an hour and a half northeast of Buenos Aires) is gaucho country through and through. Our abroad program took us to an estancia where local "gauchos" prepared a meal of 5 different kinds of slow-cooked meat and performed a mixture of traditional and not-so-traditional music, dance, horse, and gaucho events. It really is true that nothing beats the beef here!

Dance- An impressive gauchesco dance performed with boleadoras--what he is spinning around. Boleadoras are the weapon and hunting tool of choice for gauchos, consisting of long ropes with a rock covered in leather on the ends. This performer went on to spin the boleadoras in perfect unison holding them with his teeth!

Sortija- A traditional gaucho competition that starts with hanging a ring from the bars over the track. Each competitor attempts to spear the ring with a spear about the size of a pen while riding full-speed on his horse. After several rounds, the gaucho who collects the most rings wins, and gives the ring to the woman of his choice.

A man & his horse- The gauchos are known for having a special relationship with his horse; the common joke is that a gaucho cares more for his horse than his wife. But this performance (?) takes that to a new level. After watching this for about 20 minutes, I asked some locals and they affirmed that this is not a tradition by any means, and they have never seen it before nor do they ever wish to see it again. I found it to be something akin to a cross between horse hypnosis, yoga, and uhh you'll see. Enjoy!